Alumnus goalie makes crowd quake with 100th career win

By Margo Consul

It was hard to miss Section 109 at Buck Shaw Stadium on Saturday, May 1. Pieces of black, blue, light blue and white fabric were stretched out by "The Ultras," resembling a flag. In the first row of the makeshift banner was a sign that read "Mister 100."

A man with a megaphone encouraged the section to make noise as Joe Cannon, Mister 100 himself, was announced as the starting keeper for the match.

As Cannon made it to the cage, he faced his fans and gave them a respective bow of appreciation for their unyielding support.

The crowd was congratulating Cannon, a '97 graduate of Santa Clara, on his 100th career win, a milestone that only three other keepers have ever reached in Major League Soccer.

"It's obviously a nice round number and an accomplishment, but I think the older I've gotten the more I've tried to get away from basing my life (and happiness) on results," Cannon said. "I think it's one of those things when you look back you can be proud or be happy about."

Cannon, who has been in the MLS since 1999, is recognized as one of the best in the league. "The Wall" has posted 70 shutouts throughout his career and was honored as the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year twice.

"Soccer is not a quantitative game," Cannon said. "It's real qualitative and the people that know the game know when you're playing well and people who don't know the game just purely look at the numbers and you can't get caught up in them."

As a testament to Cannon's theory, men's soccer Head Coach Cam Rast, also Cannon's former assistant coach, described Cannon without using any numbers, only descriptive nouns.

"Joe was a tremendous athlete," said Rast. "He's got great size and great quickness but he's definitely got an intuition of a goalkeeper that helps him read the game, helps him keep the defense in front of him organized and is just really a competitor."

Cannon had a tough time adjusting socially and academically after he transferred to Santa Clara.

"The toughest adjustment was the small class size. I thought that was B.S. because at Santa Barbara you had the student assistant notes and you didn't have to go to class. Here it's like you miss a couple classes, they know about it (and) they're calling," Cannon said of his time at Santa Clara. "I can definitely say without question that my time here was crucial to playing professional sports. I couldn't have made it if I didn't come here, there's no chance."

Cannon played three seasons with Santa Clara after transferring from Santa Barbara. He finished his three-year career with a 0.94 goals against average and 15 shutouts en route to three NCAA Tournament appearances. His 518-minute shutout streak in 1995 ranks second all-time in school history.

"When Mitch was here one of the most important things he said to me was 'you'll never be 100 percent, you'll never feel like you're always perfect'." Cannon said of his mentor. "It's something I've taken with me throughout my career."

In 2000 Cannon set a San Jose single-season record for saves (137) and catches/punches (106), shattering his own records of 95 saves and 76 catches/punches, which he set a year earlier. Cannon also set a former club record for shutouts (seven) and starts by a goalkeeper (26).

He is currently fourth in San Jose Earthquakes' history in playing minutes.

"Joe's the type of player who doesn't seem to lose confidence in his ability," San Jose Earthquakes' Head Coach Frank Yallop said in praise of his goalkeeper's mentality. "He's been consistently good in (the) goal."

Contact Margo Consul at mconsul@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918.